How to: AUX input in a factory radio

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By Marc de Vinck
Posted 2008/09/26 @ 7:16 am
Category Electronics, Music

This is a really nice flickr photo set that describes how to hack you car stereo. It seems like everyone has an MP3 player, but not everyone has an AUX input in his or her car.

After having two newer radios stolen from my car, my dad was nice enough to send me the original factory one. The idea is, no one in their right mind would steal this thing. The only problem is that it doesn’t have an AUX input- how am I to hook up a music player to it? Tape adapters and FM broadcasting devices aren’t a great solution, so I decided to put one in myself.

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Hacking your car stereo

BY Marc de Vinck

I currently teach in Lehigh University’s Master’s of Technical Entrepreneurship program. I'm also an kit maker, author, father, tinkerer, and member of the MAKE Technical Advisory board.

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3 Responses to How to: AUX input in a factory radio

jeff crowell on September 27th, 2008 at 5:19 am said:

cool hack, but a lot more complicated than necessary. you could have just hacked into the cassette audio like I did here http://jcrowell.info/bmw-aux-in.html
yours probably gets better audio quality though, as I do have _some_ cassette noise and limitations. Nice job!

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Thinkerer on September 27th, 2008 at 6:18 am said:

When you’re done with the wiring, there are nifty input jacks with self-adhesive backing if you look around a bit — you can locate them near a convenient place to park your IPod/MP3/Wurlitzer Model 2000 Jukebox.

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matt on September 28th, 2008 at 4:14 pm said:

@jeff: Thanks! I suppose it’s overcomplicated, but my goal was to make it a seamless part of the radio interface. Putting it inline with a tape isn’t a bad idea, though.
@thinkerer: Any one you recommend? I was thinking of making an iPod dock with controls mounted under my steering wheel, but I just have a wire routed to a storage container in my center console for now.

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